An Era of Moral Crisis

Five Things You Need to Read Today

1. A Serious Foreign Policy and an Unserious President

President Trump celebrated the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks a few days early this year by announcing that he had planned to hold personal negotiations with the top leadership of the Taliban–and to do so at Camp David, no less. He canceled it, he said, when the Taliban admitted responsibility for a bombing in Kabul that killed an American soldier. Trump asked: “What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?”

Is this a serious question? Of course it isn’t, because it isn’t being asked by a serious person. The answer to “what kind of people would do this?” is “the Taliban,” which is why negotiating with them on a peace agreement was an absurdity to begin with.

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